There could not have been a better time for Bharathiyar Thinker’s Forum (BTF), a Madurai-based private organisation, to press for their demand to confer ‘Bharat Ratna’ posthumously on Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi than the occasion when Narendra Modi, a poet himself, assumed office as the 15th Prime Minister of the country on Monday.
R. Lakshminarayanan, secretary, BTF, said the forum had already submitted a requisition in this regard. “Being a poet who has penned and published verses on patriotism, love, longing and friendship in his mother tongue Gujarati, Mr. Modi, we expect, will certainly be able to appreciate better the greatness of Bharathiyar’s works in Tamil,” he said.
He also claimed that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had turned a Nelson’s eye to the demand despite receiving a specific request. The BTF had made a representation to the President on February 3, 2013, requesting him to confer the highest civilian honour on poet and freedom fighter Bharathiyar in recognition of his services to the nation.
Chirabrata Sarkar, Under Secretary at the President’s Secretariat, had forwarded the representation to the Union Home Ministry on August 16, 2013.
Enclosing a letter along with the representation, the secretariat had requested the Home Secretary to act upon the request and communicate the action taken to the BTF under intimation to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
On August 29, the BTF made an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, to the President’s secretariat and sought to know the status of its representation.
Replying to it on September 10, the Central Public Information Officer Saurabh Vijay said: “Your petition dated February 3 was forwarded in original to the Ministry of Home Affairs, North Block, New Delhi. No report has been received in this regard. You are requested to approach the Ministry of Home Affairs to whom your petition was forwarded.”
Claiming that things were in a standstill since then, Mr. Lakshminarayanan said: “We have now made a fresh appeal to Mr. Modi with the firm belief that the poet-cum-politician will definitely do justice to our demand.”
